Price Tag on New Pleasantville Pool Spikes to Close to $5M
News Based on facts, either observed and verified directly by the reporter, or reported and verified from knowledgeable sources.
Rising costs to construct a new Pleasantville pool have spiked the anticipated price tag to nearly $5 million.
Earlier this year original estimates for a new pool at the current site on Lake Street were about $3.5 million, but as material and construction costs jumped, estimates climbed to about $4 million. The village is expected to bond the project to pay for the pool, along with a modest increase in pool membership fees.
The latest estimate for the pool is $4,786,000. Recommending a $5 million bond were Village Administrator Eric Morrissey and Ben Maslona of Fiscal Advisors & Marketing, Inc., a financial consulting firm hired by the village.
If the Village Board approves bonding, the cost would trigger a 2 to 3 percent increase in tax levy, a hike of $135 to $155 in village taxes for the average property owner.
“Assuming the 5 percent interest rate on a $5 million bond with no increase in pool fees, it would be, give or take, $140 a year for the average homeowner for the life of that bond,” Mayor Peter Scherer said
The tax increase is also based on revised operating expenses and conservative revenue estimates established from pool enrollment, swim lessons and modest fee increases.
Currently, annual pool revenue is about $255,000. Projected revenues for a new pool are $300,000.
Annual operating expenses for the pool in recent years have been roughly $250,000, but that is expected to fall by about $50,000 because expensive repairs for the aging pool would no longer be necessary.
Maslona said the recommended bonding was based on price contingencies and estimated interest rates.
“Interest rates were significantly different a year ago,” Maslona said. “Using a conservative interest rate of 5 percent and the maximum borrowing term of 20 years based on $5 million, that gives a total debt service payment of $400,000 a year.”
Former Pleasantville village trustee Jonathan Cunningham suggested the board choose a 20-year bond but with a “call protection” option for 10 or 15 years in case interest rates fall. Call protection would allow the village to call or pay off the bond and issue another bond at a lower interest rate.
“You want to preserve as much flexibility as you can,” Cunningham said. “One way to do that is with call protection.”
If the bond is issued in early 2023, the first payment would be in early 2024 and included in the village’s 2023-24 fiscal year, which begins June 1, Maslona said.
In July, the village filed the proposed pool design with the Westchester County Department of Health for the necessary permits to construct the new pool. Comments from the department are expected within the coming weeks, Morrissey said.
“We certainly want to look at what those initial comments are when we get them back before we start putting everything in order,” he said. “You never know what some of the comments are going to be.”
The village is required to respond to the Department of Health, after which the process can take another two to three months before final approval.
Once the Village Board approves a bond resolution, a 30-day permissive referendum period would open to allow residents to collect signatures to put the project to a public vote. If were to happen, it would impact the project’s timeline.
It would take six weeks to close on the bond and deposit the funds into the village’s capital account, if it were to be approved.
Once the Department of Health issues the required permit to build the pool, the village can start the bidding process, which can take about two months before a contractor is retained.
Originally, officials had hoped to put out the bid by next month. Start of construction is planned soon after the conclusion of the 2023 pool season, with a projected opening date on Memorial Day in 2024.
Abby is a local journalist who has reported on breaking news for more than 20 years. She currently covers community issues in The Examiner as a full-time reporter and has written for the paper since its inception in 2007. Read more from Abby’s editor-author bio here. Read Abbys’s archived work here: https://www.theexaminernews.com/author/ab-lub2019/
